The Right Choice
by Blazil
Summary: Tom is a young adult in a world that is about to come to an end. Skynet has taken over and is preparing to launch the first nuclear missiles. Tom doesn't have a clue what is happening at first. Eventually, he will come to understand the destiny of humanity and what needs to be done to save it.


**This story is written for entertainment purposes only. All copyrights belong to their respective owners.**

**Keep in mind that English is not my first language and so I do not claim to have corrected every mistake yet.**

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**This story is not set in any particular timeline. I have chosen to use elements from all Terminator media.**

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**Chapter 1: The end of an era**

The sun had just risen in a small village somewhere in Europe. It was a beautiful day, with a clear and bright blue sky. Tom was still lying in his bed, and he would not get up until several hours later. When that time had finally arrived, he performed his morning routine as usual. However, there was something out of the ordinary. He had started up his desktop pc to view the latest news on the internet, but the internet connection did not seem to work. A bit annoyed, he went downstairs to check the modem. After having switched it off and back on again, he checked the connection a second time. This did not appear to have made a difference. Resetting it also made no difference, and all settings appeared to be correct. Curious, he checked the telephone and the digital television. Both did not function. He supposed it was possible that the internet cable had been severed somewhere nearby on a construction site. The same thing had happened with the water supply last week.

After breakfast, Tom decided to go to the second hand store in the center of the village to look around for a bit. He liked to collect old electronic devices and this store often had some very interesting things lying around. He now took his bike from the shed and cycled towards the village center through the forested area that surrounded the house. About half way there, he thought he could hear some kind of fireworks in the distance. The sounds became louder as he drew closer to the village. Something very strange was going on. No events were celebrated on this particular day as far as he knew. Also, it was nearly midday. Tom could not figure out who would want to light fireworks if no one was able to see them.

He had now reached the outer end of one of the main streets and stopped here for a moment. The street appeared to be deserted. The sounds could still be heard. Suddenly, Tom could see someone running towards him. It did not look like the man was merely jogging. No, he was running as fast as he could and looked frightened. Tom asked the man what was going on, but the only response he got was that he should get the hell away from this place. Tom could not help but feel a burning desire to know what on Earth was going on here. Therefore, he moved a little further down the street, until he could see someone exiting a cafeteria and loading some stuff into the back of a car. When he was a little closer, he could see that it was a young woman of about his age. She had her black hair in a ponytail and appeared to be carrying firearms and ammunition out of the building and into the vehicle. For a second, he thought that he had stepped onto a movie set of some kind, until he remembered that this cafeteria also had an outdoor shooting range that was often used by the local shooting club.

She noticed him and asked him if he could drive. Tom absentmindedly responded with a nod and then noticed a second person exiting the building. It was a tall, broad-shouldered and blond haired young man. He too was carrying weapons and ammunition. Tom had no clue what they were doing and decided to follow the running man's advice. When he had turned around, the young woman yelled at him that they were not the enemy. This did not convince Tom, who cycled away as fast as he could. She now attempted to convince him by yelling that if he didn't go with them, he would only find death. Tom stopped and looked back at her. She did not have a gun pointed at him, nor did the other guy. If they had wanted to shoot him, they would have done so by now. When Tom realized this, he made his way back to them.

Then, he demanded they explain to him what was happening. According to the blond young man, there were small robotic tanks patrolling the streets. They had shown up a few hours ago and they had been shooting at everyone and everything that moved. Tom looked around in disbelief, and came to the conclusion that it had to be a joke. When he mentioned that he didn't see these 'robotic tanks' anywhere, the young woman told him that he was lucky, because if he did see them, it would probably be the last thing he ever saw. Suddenly, Tom realized that there was a possibility the so-called fireworks were actually machineguns firing. When he pointed this out, he received a sarcastic remark from each of them for stating the obvious. Tom, who didn't know what to say for a moment, told them his name, and asked them for theirs. Eva now ordered Tom to get into the driver's seat of the car, because they needed to move right now. The sounds of machineguns firing seemed to draw closer every second. As Tom discarded his bike and got into the car, he wondered why they needed him, but his question was soon answered when both Eva and Jake got in the car, each of them having a weapon in their hands. Two people who had their hands free to shoot back were better than just one, Tom supposed.

As they were driving away from the village, Tom asked what they were planning to do. Eva quickly explained it. They would travel to her uncle's house to take shelter, attempt to make contact with any authorities, and formulate a plan for their next step. Her uncle Samuel had access to a nearby underground fallout shelter from the time of the Cold War. Right now it was the safest place to be, since the robotic tanks were too big to access it. It would take them about half an hour to get there.

Barely ten minutes later, something big happened. They did not run into one of the robotic tanks; it was something else entirely. There was a sudden bright flash of light. Tom instinctively stepped on the brakes and the car came abruptly to a halt. The flash disappeared as quickly as it had come. Tom remained in the car, still overcome by this sudden event. The others, however, exited it to see what was going on. Jake shouted that a mushroom cloud could be seen in the distance. Tom could hear Eva cursing out loud. Jake then shouted that it seemed to be pretty far away. Nevertheless, they both quickly returned to the car. The engine was still running. The EMP blast did not seem to have reached far enough to affect any electronics. Without saying anything, Tom quickly accelerated the car. Up until a minute ago, the absurd thought that robots in the form of small tanks were attacking the village had occupied Tom's mind. Now even this seemed insignificant. Tom had once thought about the idea of nuclear war, but he had never considered that it would actually happen someday. They hadn't even received a warning that it would happen. The civil defense sirens had remained completely silent. Suddenly, the plan of getting to the shelter of Eva's uncle sounded a lot better. Tom pushed the gas pedal even further down than he had done before, and continued following the directions that Eva gave him.

When they were nearly there, he could see someone riding a scooter up ahead. He slowed down, and told the others that he was going to ask this person to come along with them. Eva told him to just continue driving, but Tom did not consider her to be his boss. Jake made a comment about the fact that there was room for a few more people in the fallout shelter, which earned him a reproachful look from Eva. Tom now made the choice to drive beside the girl on the scooter and told her to get in the car, since they were going to a safe place underground. A moment later, all seats in the car were occupied. It seemed that the girl was some kind of amateur journalist. She had a digital photo camera hanging around her neck and had just taken a video camera out of her bag. Her name was Lynn and she claimed that she had footage of the attacking robots and of the nuclear blast. Jake expressed that he believed it was a good thing, since it was evidence that could be useful in case the government claimed it was all a hoax. The comment seemed to have been intended as a joke. However, no-one but Jake could laugh about it.

Only minutes later did they arrive at the right location. It was a small house in front of an old abandoned looking industrial storage building. The location was surrounded by a forest. Eva told him not to stop in front of the house, but take the driveway to the side of the storage building. Tom wanted to know if they didn't need to get supplies or something, but according to Eva, her uncle was a bit on the paranoid side. He always kept the shelter supplied with everything a small group of people would need in order to survive there on a longer term, in case there was an emergency. Once they were at the side of the building, Tom could see that the large sliding door had already been opened. This uncle of Eva had apparently also been expecting them. Tom glanced for a moment at the sun and the remaining blue sky surrounding it. It would probably be the last chance he would get in a long time. Then, he drove the car into the building. As the four of them got out, Samuel closed the door and welcomed them. It seemed that he already knew Jake as well. He did not seem surprised or worried that two unknown people had also joined. After quick introductions, he led the way to the actual shelter.

Tom and Lynn followed him, while Eva and Jake started unloading the car trunk. Samuel now opened the door to an office section and went inside. An old metal staircase that went down was located behind yet another door. It led to a concrete underground tunnel with a metal door at the end of it. He told them to get inside, while he would help the others with moving the remaining supplies. Soon, everything and everyone was inside. The door was closed and the locking mechanism was applied. All of a sudden they had gone from a dangerous and adrenaline generating outside situation to a silent, dark and cramped tomblike place.

Not knowing what else to do, Tom asked Lynn if he could see the footage of the attacking robots. As she tapped on the screen to playback the specific fragment of video, she told them that she believed that the robots had come from the local military base. This didn't really surprise any of them. After a few seconds, Tom could see that Lynn had zoomed in on one of the robots from a relatively safe location a considerable distance away from it. The robot looked like a vaguely humanoid body placed on a platform with small caterpillar tracks. The body was streamlined with silver-colored plastic. The robot had two appendages which could be considered arms and each arm had a machinegun with rotating barrels. The 'face' of its head had a few red lights that seemed to serve the purpose of eyes. On the front plastic 'chest' plate, a designation or type number could be read. It read T-1-423. The robot was a very monstrous looking thing and it stood a few heads taller than the average human. Also noteworthy was the fact that it looked brand new, as if it had just come off an assembly line. Tom had to look at the video fragment multiple times in order to get an idea of what the hell he was seeing. He had a feeling that all which had happened today, the failing media devices, the robots that killed innocent people and the nuclear blast had to be related to each other…


End file.
